In a year of concussions, broken bones, sprained ankles and
ligament tears, “Coach, I’m injured,” became a common phrase among Herriman
High ballroom team members.

“It’s been an inside joke for us,” senior Sawyer Hutchings said,
noting that the team added the line to its warm-up cheer.

But the team doesn’t worry too much about injuries, according to
Hutchings. With 28 members, there’s always somebody willing to step in, he
said. Hutchings was that somebody when a fellow teammate got injured the night
before a performance. He learned the choreography within a few hours and was
ready to fill in.

This was his opportunity for Hutchings to reciprocate the support
his fellow dancers had given him during football season, he said. As a lineman
and fullback on the Mustang’s football team, he broke his collarbone and was
left unable to dance for a third of the year.

“It was rough, but you just get
through it together,” he said.

Tim Wright, one of Hutching’s best friends and the co-president of
the team, said the members became close through these tough circumstances.

“You have to learn how to trust to be confident, and not let
whatever it is slow you down,” he said. “You gain a lot of friends here, and it
helps you enjoy all the time together more.”

While Wright remained injury-free through the year, his teammates
helped him through his own sets of challenges, he said. The 18-year-old has a
prosthetic left leg and works with his dance partners to adjust his own balance
and stability.

“Everyone is going through something different with this team,”
senior member Aubrey Garside said. “We all just learned to be more selfless
when someone is having a hard time or a hard day.”

Garside went through a physical challenge when she broke her knee
on stage during the team’s performance at the closing assembly of 2015­–16
school year. Although some people guess she was in the middle of a crazy lift
when they hear of her injury, Garside affirms that it was a simple lunge that
caused the damage.

“My leg twisted wrong, and it just blew out, so then I like fell
over and grabbed my leg as I went down and screamed,” Garside said. “Everyone
just kind of thought it was part of the dance until I didn’t get up.”

Garside’s kneecap had gravitated to the side of her leg, and the
teammates who were next to her gathered around to find out if she was all right.
Other teammates finished the dance before the curtain closed. The assembly
continued in front of the curtain and Garside waited for help.

An ambulance came to assess the damage. Garside had broken her
patella and torn a ligament. She couldn’t dance all summer and for the first
part of the school year. Even now, she’s required to wear a knee brace when she
dances.

“My first performance back, I was so scared,” Garside said. “I was
partnered with Sawyer, and it was his first performance back as well after his
collarbone, and I was shaking so bad. I was so nervous.”

But Garside and Hutchings managed to get through the routines
without any complications, and they both said they started to gain confidence
again.

“I learned more technique while I was watching and couldn’t dance,
and that was surprising,” Hutchings said. “It really turned into a positive for
me being out for a little while because I was also able to improve my
footwork.”

Garside, Hutchings and Wright—and most of the other ballroom team
members—are moving on from high school, but they each said they’ll never forget
what they learned through their accident-prone team.

“It’s a different aspect of things you learn in
ballroom than in any other type of sport,” Hutchings said. “You get a lot
closer than other teams because it has an emotional side. You learn a certain
amount of personal respect and how to be understanding.”